blakeslee



(1V0. Model.)

E. G. BLAKESLEE.

V RUBBER TIP ATTACHMENT P03 LEAD PENOILS. No. 357,949. Patented Feb. 15, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD C. BLAKESLEE, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO THE EAGLE PENCIL COMPANY, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y.

RUBBER TIP ATTACHMENT FOR LEAD-PENCILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,949, dated February 15, 1887.

Application filed June 30, 1886. Serial No. 206,735. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. BLAKEs LEE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rubber Tip Attachments for Lead-Pencils, Pen-Holders, and other Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement upon the article described and claimed in the applica tion of George Singleton, assignor, &c., filed in the United States Patent Office May 22, 1886, and bearing Serial No. 202,961, the said article being characterized by the combination of a tube or socket to receive the stem of the pencil, pen-holder, &c., and rubber-hold- .ing jaws acted on by said stem, when the latter is inserted in the socket, to close upon the stick, strip, or block of rubber or erasive material placed between them. This matter, broadly considered, is not of my invention. What I have invented is a novel construction of the device. In theform of attachment shown and described by said Singleton in illustration of his invention there is what may be called a longitudinally-split tube, the two parts of which are pivoted together. In my device, on the contrary, the tube is not split into two distinct parts, subsequently united by a pivot 0 or hinge-joint, but is split from each end over a portion of its length only, the intermediate unsplitpbrtion constituting a point on which the jaws formed by the split portions can move sufficiently for the purposes for which the attachment is designed. In this way I simplify the construction and obviate the forming and fitting of the hinge-joint, which is re quired in the other form of device.

The nature of my improvement and the 0 manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect can best be explained and understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of the several parts of the attachment. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same in place upon the end of a pencil. Fig. 3 is a view of a modified construction of the tube.

The attachment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of a drawn sheet-metal tube, usually of brass, nickelplated, which is for a portion of its length only divided or split longitudinally from each end on diametrically-opposite sides. On each side of the tube, therefore, is left an intermediate unsplit or unsevered portion, a, while the slits above and below said portions a divide the tube into two sets or pairs of jaws, b c. The jaws b are intended to hold the block or strip of rubber or erasive material (I, and are fashioned accordingly, being wide enough apart to permit the block d to be entered between them, and having their acting edges bent inward, as shown, (or serrated or equivalently formed,) so that they will bite the rubber when closed together. The jaws 0 form a split socket to receive the end of the pencil e, or other stem or handle.

'When the pencil is inserted between the socket-jaws c, the effect is to spread them apart, as indicated in Fig. 2, and the result of this expansion or spreading apart of jaws c is to cause the jaws b on the opposite side of the uncut portions a to close upon the rubber d and to grasp it tightly. This movement of the jaws d is not so free and pronounced as when the jaws are hinged or pivoted together; but it is nevertheless appreciable and sufiieient to cause them to bite and hold the rubber firmly.

, On the other hand, the rubber dforms a spring which tends to spread apart the jaws b, and consequently to close the other set of jaws, 0, upon the end of the pencil.

In Fig. 3 the metal tube is substantially like that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the diflerence in construction being that the tube on one side is split through from end toend, as shown at a, leaving the tube on the other side similar to the tube in Figs. 1 and 2. In both instances, however, the metal of which the tubular portion of the attachment is composed is a single integral piece, and this portion of the attachment consists of two pairs of jaws, b 0, e011- nected by an intermediate unsplit portion, a.

In order to prevent the jaws c from unduly spreading and, if need be, to clamp them more firmly upon the pencil, a clamping-ring, f,1nay be employed, mounted upon and adapted to slide on the tube.

I do not of course claim, broadly, a tube or holder split from each end for a portion of [00 self, is that the inner ends of the opposite sets of jaws are so near together that the spreading apart of the one pair causes the closing together of the other pair, and vice Versa, and that the unslit portion a constitutes in effect the hinge-point upon which the two sets of jaws move during this operation. It is to this feature only that my claims are directed.

What, therefore, I claim as new and of my own invention, is-

1. The described attachment for pencils and the like, consisting of the sheet-metal tube constructed or formed with the rubber-holding jaws b and the socket-jaws a, connected by a central uncut or unslit portion, a, the inner ends of the two opposite sets of jaws being so near together that the spreading apart of one set will cause the closing of the other set, as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. The combination of the pencil or thelike, the block of rubber or elastic erasive material, the split tube formed with jaws b and 0, connected by an intermediate uncut portion, a, the inner ends of the two opposite sets of jaws being so near together that the spreading apart of one set will cause the closing of the other set, as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of June, 1886.

EDWVARD O. BLAKESLEE.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL KRAUS, PHILIP BRUNNER. 

